Effective Motivational Strategies

Employed by Teachers of High School Beginning-Level Art Courses

by

Erica Clark

A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

Approved April 2012 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee:

Bernard Young, Chair

Mary Erickson Mary Stokrocki

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

August 2012

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ABSTRACT

This study gathers the expertise of three reputable art teachers, through

analysis of qualitative data collected during in-person interviews and classroom

observations, as they share their experiences and insights regarding successful

methods of motivating and engaging students in their beginning-level art classes.

Various works of literature regarding educational motivation are reviewed, and

this study begins to address the need for additional research involving this issue,

as it applies to teachers of art. Commonalities between the motivational tactics of

the participating teachers are discussed, as well as comparison of findings to

existing literature. This may be useful to art teachers who are new to the field or

who are seeking information regarding successful methods of encouraging

motivation and engagement in their beginning-level art classes.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Dr. Bernard Young for the guidance he provided as

my thesis chair, as well as Dr. Mary Erickson and Dr. Mary Stokrocki for their

mentorship and support of my educational development as a graduate student. I

would also like to thank the participating teachers from this study, who opened up

their classrooms and made time to share their valuable expertise with me. I am

especially grateful to my parents, Carol and Gary Gisler, for their positive

encouragement throughout my journey as a student.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... iv

CHAPTERS

1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1

2 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................. 5

3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................................ 9

4 RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS ........................................................... 15

Teacher A .......................................................................................... 15

Teacher B .......................................................................................... 29

Teacher C .......................................................................................... 44

5 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................. 54

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 58

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .................................................................................... 60

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. Student Mosaic Installation on campus (1), Teacher A ............................... 21

2. Student Mosaic Installation on campus (2), Teacher A ............................... 22

3. Student Mosaic Installation on campus (3), Teacher A ............................... 27

4. Classroom Layout, Teacher A....................................................................... 28

5. Student Mosaic Installation on campus, Teacher B ..................................... 42

6. Classroom Layout, Teacher B ........................................................................ 43

7. Classroom Layout, Teacher C ....................................................................... 53

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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

I recently had the opportunity to speak with an experienced art teacher

who had taken courses from the Art Education graduate program in which I am

currently studying. “Ah, yes, Multidisciplinary Art Education…” she proclaimed,

with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She went on to explain that students came to

her class in order to make art, and that it wasn’t practical to incorporate other

types of art learning into her curriculum. To illustrate her point, she described

students as becoming “resentful” when she had attempted to discuss aspects of art

history with them.

After speaking with this high school beginning-level art educator, I began

to feel a bit daunted. I began to consider, “So, if students are only comfortable

with solving addition problems, should math teachers restrict their curriculum

from anything beyond that concept? What if English teachers settled on allowing

students to participate in only what they found innately enjoyable, rather than

providing them with a well-rounded exposure to various types of literature,

writing techniques, and other such things which we as a society have come to

accept as being indispensable portions of the high school curriculum?” Should

the marginalization of art education curricular concepts other than art-making

activities be an acceptable practice?

Motivation has been identified by researchers as a key factor in

determining the outcomes of educational input. For high school art students who

have already identified themselves as being interested in art, their abilities to

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understand and appreciate their art education may come with comparable ease.

However, high school students who are not as attracted to artistic concepts often

enroll in beginning-level art classes. They sometimes do this in order to fulfill a

requirement for high school graduation or university admittance. According to

include one credit (two semesters) of Fine Art or Career/Technical/Vocational

courses. Competency requirements for all major state universities in Arizona

state that Freshman entrants must have achieved a grade of ‘C’ or higher in one

full year of Fine Arts courses.

Additionally, many students with preliminary artistic disinterest or

indifference may enroll in a beginning-level art class due to their perception of the

ease of earning a passing grade, or the prospect of socialization with other

students. In this, lies the instructor’s challenge of motivating these high-school

students to learn, appreciate, and achieve throughout the course of their

beginning-level art class. Is an atmosphere in which art is considered a valued

area of study one that can be consciously created, regardless of the pre-existing

characteristics and attitudes of any given classroom population?

Art teachers hold the potential power to motivate students to increase their

understanding of artistic concepts and possibly even to alter their viewpoints

toward art. If teachers of beginning-level art students do not work to motivate

and engage each student, this will not only result in a lackluster classroom

environment and wasted time, but also a lost chance for teachers to positively

influence the artistic viewpoints of our future society. How can teachers expect

those who were never taught to relate to art to see importance in the funding and

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preservation of artwork and art education programs in the future, as students grow

up to become voters and potentially even policy and decision makers?

Whether consciously or not, many high school art teachers may design

instruction that is aimed toward the interests of their more artistically advanced

students. While this should be of great importance in the selection of curriculum

and methods, these choices should be made in order to target as many students as

possible. It could be assumed that non-artistically oriented students who enroll in

an art education course may not glean from the course quite all that high school

art majors might, but this does not mean that less artistic students are unable to

receive a quality art education, or that the quality of their art education is not

important.

Students may not always come to class with a natural fondness for every

topic that their teachers intend to address. In daily lesson preparation, it is

essential for teachers to ponder methods of cultivating the interests of students

while addressing the mandated academic content. I am curious to discover how

experienced art educators have been successful in dealing with this issue of

concern. Designing effective motivational tactics to engage under-stimulated

high school students in art learning can present quite a challenge. It is the

responsibility of high school art educators and educational researchers to

determine just how this might be accomplished.

The intention of this research is to seek solutions to this challenge from

those with art education teaching experience. I am seeking information which

may help to answer the following inquiry: “How are experienced art educators of

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Arizona working to motivate and engage students in their beginning-level art

courses, including students who may appear to be disinterested or indifferent?” I

believe that experienced master art teachers of beginning level art students use

well-developed motivational strategies. My desire is to capture and share their

valuable expertise.

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Chapter 2

METHODOLOGY

Research Questions:

a. Do experienced and effective high school art teachers believe that: An

atmosphere in which students consider art to be a valued area of study is

always possible to create, regardless of the varying attitudes of students in

their beginning-level art classrooms?

b. How are experienced art educators in Arizona high schools (within the

greater Phoenix area) working to motivate students in their beginning level

art courses, including those who may appear to be disinterested or

indifferent?

In order to carry out research for these inquiries, I involved three

participating high school art instructors who teach beginning-level art courses. I

began by contacting the Arizona State University student teaching placement

coordinator in order to obtain contacts for potential participating teachers. It was

my assumption that those who would be recommended have been identified as

high-quality master teachers, and this was confirmed by the student teaching

coordinator. I felt that this approach would put me in contact with reputable art

educators who have experience in effectively articulating their tactics to others.

The student teaching coordinator was able to provide me with a list of nine

accomplished teachers across the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. I narrowed

down my search based on the goal of diversifying the sample of participating

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teachers as much as possible. I was successful in gaining partnership with

teachers from three different school districts within different cities (Peoria,

Tempe, and Mesa). The participant sample also varied in art curriculum areas

(Drawing and Painting, Ceramics, and Jewelry), demographical socio-economic

status, and gender of teachers (one female and two males).

After explaining my research goals to these willing participants through email,

I scheduled preliminary interview appointments with each of them. Prior to the

scheduled interviews, I sent copies of my research questions to the participating

teachers in order to give them an opportunity to plan their responses. I followed

this series of scripted questions, but the in-person interviewing process allowed

me to probe further and request clarification when needed. During these

interviews, I inquired about motivational strategies which these teachers have

discovered to be effective with students who do not exhibit pre-existing artistic

interest or appreciation. I used an audio recording device to document the

responses I received, in order for the interviews to be transcribed into text and

analyzed. In addition to collecting demographic data, I posed questions of the

following nature:

1. What formal degrees do you hold?

2. How long have you been teaching art?

3. What types of conferences/workshops have you participated in?

4. What sources (theorists, training courses, personal experience, etc.)

have been most influential in determining your motivational tactics?

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5. Students with varying levels of intrinsic motivation toward art learning

are bound to enroll in your beginning-level art courses. What kinds of

tactics do you use in order to motivate ALL students toward art

learning?

6. What strategies would you use to inspire a student who appears

disinterested in your art curriculum?

7. How can you tell that your motivational tactics are successful? (What

evidence do you look for in students?)

8. What criteria do you use to determine student grades?

9. What are the consequences of having unmotivated students in an art

classroom?

10. Do you believe that any student can be taught to value art learning? (If

yes or no, request elaboration.)

11. How might the results of student motivation toward art learning reach

beyond their experiences in your classroom?

Over the course of one semester, I also scheduled two additional visits in

order to conduct classroom observations with each participating teacher. During

these observations, I was able to document evidence of their motivational

strategies in practice. My intention was to verify whether or not each teacher

seemed to be implementing their cited tactics. I was also able to make sketches of

their classroom layouts and take photographs of student projects. Additionally, I

documented manifestations of motivation and engagement (or lack thereof) which

seemed to be occurring in each classroom environment.

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In considering the methodological choices for a study of this nature, I

concluded that the inquiries lend themselves more toward qualitative data

collection procedures. I considered attempting to also apply quantitative

measures, based on observable displays of student engagement as defined within

James Asher’s Total Physical Response model. Although I felt guided in part by

his theories, I was deliberate in my decision to adhere to a qualitative

methodology. I deemed quantitative data to be unnecessary in accomplishing the

goals of this study.

Through analysis of this collected data, I identified theoretical

consistencies amongst participating teachers, as well as successful motivational

tactics which could be shared with other educators of beginning-level art students.

These findings might be particularly useful to pre-service or beginning art

educators, or any art educators who feel they are struggling with the challenges of

motivating and engaging their beginning-level art students.

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Chapter 3

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A great deal of research has been conducted over the past two decades that

addresses engagement and motivation as they relate to learning outcomes. The

ability to motivate disinterested and lower achieving students should be

considered an important factor in determining the success of a teacher. According

to Sanders and Rivers (1996), “As teacher effectiveness increases, lower

achieving students are the first to benefit. The top quintile of teachers facilitate

appropriate to excellent gains for students of all achievement levels.” Even those

who function at lower levels of artistic development or who have little

preliminary interest in art should be expected to work toward higher achievement,

even if at varying rates of progress.

Students who are not motivated and engaged are unlikely to benefit from

instruction. Deci et al. (1991) identified “conceptual understanding and personal

adjustment as the most important educational outcomes,” in their discussion of the

“relation of motivation to these outcomes.” It is well-documented that teachers

can have the potential to drastically influence the viewpoints, outlooks, and

attitudes of those whom they instruct.

Since evidence suggests that motivation and engagement are such

powerful factors in the educational process, art teachers are now faced with the

task of seeking effective methods of activating these factors. Teachers know that

students come to us with quite a variety of prior life experiences, and that each

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student will be somewhat unique in regard to their strengths and abilities,

interests, and reactions to different methods of teaching. Research has shown us

that teachers must be conscious of this as they select and carry out instructional

methods. Gardner (2006) states, “By building on a child’s interest and

motivation, schools might have more success in carrying out what may be their

most crucial task: empowering children to engage meaningfully in their own

learning.” He also notes that “an interpersonal relationship is critical in

motivating students to learn” and advocates an “environment where school,

children, and the community come together in a productive way.” Gardner

suggests that meaningful interpersonal involvement is a powerful motivator for

most students.

A study conducted with 526 U.S. high school students showed that the

student participants “experienced increased engagement when the perceived

challenge of the task and their own skills were high in balance, the instruction was

relevant, and the learning environment was under their control” (Shernoff et al.,

2003). This study documented the results of different methods of instruction, and

found that the high school students who were involved in the study showed

evidence of higher levels of engagement when the students participated in

individual and group work than students who listened to lectures or watched

educational videos. Given the lack of multi-sensory involvement in one-sided

lectures and video watching, this may not seem at all surprising.

Brewster and Fager (2000) remind us that students tend to become less

engaged as they reach middle school, and that as they enter high school, teachers

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and researchers are able to identify an increase in students who do not

demonstrate adequate motivation for success in school. Brewster and Fager

conducted research aimed to determine effective methods of increasing student

motivation and engagement, or “time-on-task.” They argue that methods of

making coursework more engaging and effective for students at all levels is,

indeed, possible. Brewster and Fager discuss the common differentiation between

intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and note that research supports the overall

success of students who are more intrinsically motivated. Intrinsically motivated

students are those who “actively engage themselves in learning out of curiosity,

interest, or enjoyment, or in order to achieve their own intellectual and personal

goals.” These students are said to be able to engage themselves without the need

for external consequences such as artificial rewards or punishments, as

extrinsically motivated students may sometimes require. Teachers must be

prepared to address students who function primarily in either realm. “As schools

focus on helping all students achieve high standards,” Brewster and Fager

acknowledge, “reaching out to disengaged and discouraged learners becomes

increasingly important. Clearly, students who are not motivated to engage in

learning are unlikely to succeed.” They conclude their study by reminding

teachers that they (teachers) serve as a powerful factor in the motivation, or lack

thereof, of their students.

The time that students spend in class each day should be considered

valuable and indispensable to all involved. Deci et al. (1991) proclaim that,

“Ideal school systems are ones that succeed in promoting in students a genuine

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enthusiasm for learning and accomplishment and a sense of volitional

involvement in the educational enterprise.” Although the authors describe

intrinsically motivated behaviors as representing the concept of self-

determination, which they claim to speak for, they acknowledge that some

extrinsically motivating factors can be designed to inspire self-determination.

Fay and Funk‘s theoretical approach known as Love and Logic encourages

parents and teachers to rely on extrinsic motivators that either are natural

consequences or which resemble natural consequences as closely as possible

(1995). This would be an example of an intention to provide students with

externally motivating factors that might direct them toward developing higher

levels of valuable intrinsic motivation.

Hetland and Winner (2004) discuss the importance of art education in

public school settings, and remind us that art education can increase academic

achievement across subject areas. It could be argued that all students receiving art

education should be encouraged to participate fully in order to receive this

benefit, including those who may not seem as interested in art-related topics.

Teachers’ approaches for motivating and engaging students with artistic

tendencies should differ from approaches used with non-artistic students.

Dorethy and Reeves (1979) conducted a research study which investigated the

differences in activity of brain waves in 26 art majors and 33 non-art majors.

They concluded that their research findings suggest “that the art of teaching needs

to be matched with the functions and qualities of human performance,” which

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they acknowledge as varying greatly from individual to individual, even amongst

those who are within similar interest groups.

Scott (1988) conducted a related study designed to compare personality,

values, and background characteristics of artistically-inclined students verses

typical students. One hundred two “Artistically Talented” and 125 “Average”

11th and 12th grade students were evaluated. Significant differences in personality

were identified, and evidence suggested that Artistically Talented students tend

“to be more reserved, detached, critical, aloof, cool, and impersonal,” as well as

“radical, liberal, experimenting, free-thinking, innovative…suspicious, self-

opinionated, skeptical, and questioning” and “more forthright, natural, and

unpretentious than the Average.” Scott also states that, “The public education

system need not be expected to teach students to be artists. Educators can,

however, create an atmosphere in which art is considered a valued area of study

and in which knowledge and appreciation of art and personal artistic expression

are encouraged.” That which remains, is the task of determining effective ways to

accomplish this mission.

Researchers such as Pariser and Zimmerman (2004) have identified the

importance of determining effective methods of teaching students who have been

identified as being artistically talented. Research includes discussion of qualities

which teachers should develop in preparation to teach talented students, as well as

the determination of practices that may aid in cultivating the highest levels of

achievement and success with this artistically-inclined group. Less discussed, is

the topic of preparing art educators to motivate and engage all students who enroll

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in their art classes, particularly the significant number of beginning-level art

students who may not possess pre-developed artistic interests.

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Chapter 4

RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS

The three teachers who participated in this study came to me by

recommendation of the Student Teaching Coordinator at Arizona State

University. Each teacher had at least 11 years of experience working with high

school beginning-level art students in Arizona’s public school system. The

sampling of teachers reflected variations in school socioeconomic levels,

geographical location (within the greater Phoenix area), art curriculum, teacher

gender, teaching styles, as well as teacher education and professional influences.

Prior to meeting with each teacher, I provided them with a copy of the

interview questions I would be asking them. I wanted to give them an

opportunity to reflect on the questions beforehand, and each teacher reported to

me that they had done so. Some had even jotted down notes to refer to during the

interview. In all three cases, I also conducted two classroom observations. The

following narratives are based on information I collected during these interviews

and observations.

Teacher A

The first teacher I interviewed, whom I will identify as Mr. A, is a

Ceramics instructor at a high school in Tempe, Arizona. Mr. A has twelve years

of professional teaching experience, a Bachelor’s degree in Art Education, and a

Master’s degree in Secondary Education with emphasis in Curriculum and

Instruction. Mr. A’s students come from a wide range of socio-economic and

cultural backgrounds. The school boundaries encompass areas below the poverty

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level, as well as areas Mr. A describes as being “fairly wealthy.” Mr. A refers to

his student body, many of whom commute from the neighboring Yaqui Indian

town of Guadalupe, as being “quite a mix.” His teaching style is formal,

structured, and facilitative of applied concept representation.

Mr. A’s school district is currently running a Professional Learning

Community program. The program encourages collaboration with other

department members, and is working toward common curriculum articulation

across sites. Through this collaborative program, teachers are able to use

electronic media such as Google Docs to share resources and find common

modalities for student assessments.

Mr. A reports that he refers to Bloom’s Taxonomy quite a bit in his

teaching, as well as Rigor Relevance Framework. He describes an important

aspect of the latter as “trying to build that relationship with your students in order

to try to engage them and get them interested in what you’re doing. So the idea is

really that if you’re addressing a subject that’s engaging and relevant to what your

students are interested in, that you’re more likely to be successful.”

During my opportunities to observe in Mr. A’s classroom, I witnessed an

environment where students seemed to be actively engaged for the majority of

each class period. At any given point, there would be students throwing on the

potter’s wheels, hand building (generally coil or slab construction), or glazing

their pieces. Mr. A would be working his way throughout the room at all times,

assisting students in these various stages of their projects. During the dates of my

observations, all of the students were working on a “series project.” They were

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required to complete three vessels that somehow tied together thematically. Some

students were creating vessels that interlocked with one another when lined up,

others repeated similar shapes or glazes, and a few students created pieces with

thematic subject matter (such as animals or symbols).

At first glance, while his students are working at so many different stages,

Mr. A’s classroom can appear to be somewhat of a liberated environment.

However, a more careful look reveals a highly structured system of specific

requirements. As I made my way around the classroom, every student I

encountered was able to explain the expectations of their project, and exactly how

one should go about meeting those expectations. The exception was a student

who was in the process of glazing a quite sizeable pot by submerging the entire

vessel into a glaze canister by hand. After the student managed to pull the pot out

of the canister, he held it there, dripping and spilling glaze all over the

surrounding area. Mr. A approached, took a quick look at the overly-thick,

handprint-smudged glaze job, then instructed the student to rinse off his entire

project in the sink. Mr. A promised to show the seemingly embarrassed student

how to glaze the pot by dipping it into a tray on the following day.

Mr. A had a very straightforward manner with his students, and expected

them to be on track at all times. When he noticed that four students seemed to be

pounding and wedging their clay for an unnecessary amount of time, he simply

said, “That’s not the way to earn points in here.” Without a visible hint of

defensiveness, the students quickly transitioned to the next step of their project.

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I participated in various informal discussions with the beginning-level

students throughout the course of my observations. Many admitted to taking the

class because they needed the fine arts credit. “Art is pretty and cool,” one

student explained to me, “but I’m not an artist.”

These beginning-level students were in a combined class with several

talented advanced-level students. The more advanced students were working on

creating a wooden frame for the ceramic wall mosaic they would soon be

installing in the hallway of their school’s fine arts building. Although he knew

my interest was focused on his beginning-level students, Mr. A took every

opportunity to showcase and elaborate on the achievements of his more advanced

students while I was there.

During my final visit, I had the opportunity to attend a viewing of the

school art show where most, but not all, of Mr. A’s students had works of art on

display. An empty classroom had been transformed into a gallery, with folding

partitions exhibiting two-dimensional artworks and large tables lined with

ceramics pieces. Before the show, I overheard two students discussing the event.

They agreed that they “didn’t care” about it, even though one girl had a piece in

the show. I asked them to elaborate, and one student called the show “segregated,

because you are supposed to vote for your favorite piece, but they are all good.”

Mr. A doesn’t feel that it is very difficult to engage students in ceramics

curriculum, save for “a few kids who you have to kind of pull along.” He

explains that he makes each project engaging with his “active and interesting”

delivery. Mr. A made many general statements, saying he has “a lot of

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mechanisms in place,” tries to “cultivate an atmosphere of productivity,” and puts

care into how he structures the curriculum and pacing. It became necessary for

me to press for specific details, which were often still accompanied by additional

generalized statements.

One specific example of how Mr. A attempts to make his demonstrations

“engaging and fun” is his blind throwing lesson. He begins by showing a clip

from the movie Star Wars, where Luke Skywalker puts on his blast shield and

tries to learn how to use the light saber. Mr. A explains that, similar to using “the

Force” to wield a light saber, throwing on a potter’s wheel is not a visual activity.

He then has students attempt to throw blindfolded, which is meant to teach them

to surrender to their tactile senses.

Mr. A also noted that if there are students in his classroom who appear not

to be working, he makes a point to cycle his way through the room, informally

assessing each student and talking with them about where they are in their

creative process and what their next steps might be. He will try to find out why

they are not working, and offer specific solutions that are tailored to their

situation. If Mr. A finds this to be ineffective, he admits he will sometimes need

to resort to punitive measures. He will say, “Okay, well, if you’d like to volunteer

to clean today, just go ahead and stay in your seat and don’t get your work out.”

Most kids get interested on their own, he feels, but this strategy can be a good

motivator for those who are unresponsive to his more positively-geared attempts

to inspire.

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At the time of our interview, Mr. A was working to encourage his

students’ appreciation of the societal value of fine art through collaboration with a

professional community artist. They were in the midst of creating a large-scale

mosaic installation on their school campus. “One of the things I’m doing here,”

he shared, “is I’m trying to get the students to understand what it means to be a

real professional artist working in the community, to give them an idea of what

kinds of projects you can do, and how it relates to the community.” This

particular artist also shared an interest in renewable resources, showing the

students how to obtain used tiles and wood scraps in order to repurpose them for

their artistic endeavor. The mosaic installation they were working on during the

time of my interviews and observations is now hanging in the indoor hallway of

the high school’s Fine Arts department (see Figures 1 and 2 of completed mosaic

installation). Mr. A added that the students selected to participate in this activity

are his advanced students, as well as students who elected to participate in the

school art club. However, these advanced students are working alongside the

beginning-level students within the same class periods, and the beginning-level

students have the opportunity to observe the entire process. This not only

enriches the atmosphere of productivity within the classroom, but can also serve

to inspire beginning-level students to continue in the art program in order to

develop their own skills and potentially have the opportunity to participate in such

projects.

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Figures 1 & 2. Completed mosaic installation, displayed in the indoor hallway of

the Fine Arts department at the high school (2011).

22

Figure 2. Continued

23

Mr. A feels that the first step art teachers must take, upon noticing student

disinterest, is to take a careful look at their curriculum and to ask themselves if

their assigned projects and instructional delivery are interesting enough. Mr. A

claims to use a great deal of humor in his instructional delivery. Recently, he

began including a newly-designed unit in his ceramics curriculum, based on the

Macau culture in Peru. Mr. A has a lot of students who are either Native

American or from Hispanic decedents, so he designed this unit to tie in with his

students’ cultural identity. He reports that students seem to have “have a little

more buy in to” the material. During the course of the unit, Mr. A makes a point

to discuss the culture and the history of the culture. While doing so, he is sure to

accentuate the gruesome details about human sacrifice, which tends to be a

successful way to catch his students’ attention.

When he sees his students showing excitement about projects, Mr. A

considers this to be evidence that his motivational tactics have been successful.

He also enjoys witnessing when students who originally seemed defiant or

indifferent demonstrate transformation throughout the course of his class. He

described several students who he had identified as “potential problem children”

at the beginning of the semester, who ended up becoming his “greatest allies in

the classroom.” He explained that it is important to work on captivating and

turning those students around, because often times, other students look to them for

reference. Mr. A feels that other students seem to think, “If this kid’s not doing it,

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then I’m not going to.” When all students become active, interested, and focused

on the projects, Mr. A feels that his motivational efforts have been effective.

Mr. A stressed the importance of making students aware of the “criteria

for success” prior to beginning any project. For each assignment, he creates and

distributes a written document of requirements that is directly aligned to the final

grading rubric for that particular project. Each grading rubric usually has around

five different categories, but varies depending on the assignment. Generally,

there will be a category for craftsmanship, a category for responsible use of class

time, and one for creativity. The additional categories will be more specific to

each particular project. For example, one project might require elements such as

use of texture or practical functionality.

At the end of each project, students are also expected to complete a self-

reflection, composing short-answer written responses that explain how they feel

they addressed each requirement. During an informal discussion, a student

explained to me that she was glad Mr. A had them do the self-reflections because

she felt it was an opportunity for students to give their own input into the grading

process. She seemed to feel empowered by the opportunity to represent herself in

this way. Mr. A reported that students generally are quite honest in their self-

reflections, and that he rarely will find that they didn’t evaluate themselves well.

In the uncommon case that they do not, he will offer the student feedback, and

adjust their grade accordingly.

Mr. A insists that he simply does not allow students to not be working

during his class periods. He feels that even a single student who refuses to work

25

will bog down the rest of the class. If he has a student who is completely

unresponsive to his motivational interventions, he will take the necessary steps

toward having them drop his class. These students will usually then have to

enroll in a “study hall” period, where they are required to study and complete

homework assignments for other classes. Since every student must complete a

fine arts course prior to graduation, students who drop Mr. A’s class will still need

to enroll in another art course in the future if they hope to receive a diploma.

Most inactive students, Mr. A explained, are “just kind of lazy.” He

described the need to continually remind a handful of students to move on to the

next step of each project. He calls this “cultivating an atmosphere of culture

within your classroom that dictates that apathy is not allowed, that you must be

engaged. It’s just as simple as that,” he states. “It’s a zero tolerance policy in

effect.”

Mr. A’s ultimate goal is for his students to be interested and active in art

throughout their lives. He seeks to identify students who “didn’t know much

about it and weren’t really interested initially when they came in (his classroom),”

and hopes that art “becomes an important part of what they do from here on out.

And I’m not trying to make all of my kids ceramic artists,” he adds, “but I would

like them to at least be informed consumers, and to be actively able to appreciate

and engage with the arts throughout their life.” He went on to explain his desire

for his students to look at an art museum as a comfortable place, and “not a scary

place other people go.” He hopes for his students to be able to understand and

26

appreciate the arts on a deeper level, and for that to be an enriching force in their

lives.

I asked Mr. A why he felt this was so important. He shared that he feels

the arts are a basic need for society. “If you think about how we judge societies

of the past, we look at their art,” he explained, and went on to remind me of the

ancient Greeks and Romans, and the way in which we viewed their art and

architecture. “Art is the standard by which societies are judged by history, in

many cases. It’s one of the most important legacies that we leave as people, I

think, the things that we create. It’s a vital part of what we are as a species.”

Although he had been joking and conversing lightly with me prior to this

question, Mr. A took on a much more serious tone when communicating his

stance on the societal importance of art. It was clear to me that he considered this

to be an important truth, and a driving force behind his teaching.

27

Figure 3. Mosaic installation previously created by advanced students, displayed

on an outside wall of the school building (2011).

28

Figure 4. Diagram of classroom layout, Teacher A (2011).

29

Teacher B

The second participating teacher in my study, “Ms. B,” holds a Bachelors

of Science in Art Education, and has 27 post-graduate hours (21 hours toward a

Master’s Degree in Bilingual Multicultural Education, and six toward a Master’s

Degree in Art Education). Last year, Ms. B stopped taking classes when she

became pregnant and had a baby, but she hopes to return to graduate school at

some point in the future. She has eleven years of experience teaching Art. Her

teaching style is somewhat democratic, and she encourages both rote learning and

deeper conceptual understanding.

Ms. B teaches in an upper-middle class community in the city of Peoria,

Arizona. His school does not receive any Title One funding, and do not have

many students on free or reduced-cost lunch assistance programs. There are very

few English Language Learners within the school community.

This year, Ms. B participated in various workshops designed to support

use of Smartboard, Student Response Systems, and other technology in the

classroom. Smartboard and the Student Response System are technological

programs designed for interactive instruction. The version of Smartboard used in

Ms. B’s classroom projects the teacher’s computer screen on a wall, and has a

touch-sensitive “Slate” that can be carried by the teacher or passed around the

classroom for student participation. The Student Response System provides

students with small clickers, which they can use to answer multiple-choice or

30

yes/no questions. The system then provides the teacher with instantly calculated

whole-class instructional feedback.

Such an efficient system is especially helpful when decreasing statewide

educational budgets are forcing schools to cut teachers and increase class sizes.

Ms. B has been informed that she can expect to have at least 36 students in each

of her classes next year. She plans to use the Student Response System to check

for understanding during lessons, as well as to administer quizzes and tests, which

will eliminate her time spent on grading assessments. Students’ scores can even

be automatically exported to her electronic grade book.

Ms. B has difficulty imagining ever having to teach art without advanced

technology again. “I don’t know how I ever did it before,” she shared. “I don’t

think I could ever go back to just drawing on a white board and trying to show

them what’s going on, or making a poster and trying to show them that.” She

takes full advantage of her ability to capture student interest by clicking a mouse

and inviting images and videos from the internet to be displayed instantaneously

on the wall of her classroom. She explained that in order to motivate and engage

students in this current age, she relies heavily on these resources, which are

expensive and are not available in all schools.

Ms. B cites the Comprehensive Art Education theory to be influential in

her teaching practices. She begins each new unit by discussing selected topics

from art history, and then has students move on to a related creative project. She

also attempts to tie each unit into current events, artifacts, and phenomena of

31

today’s art world. She is constantly seeking ways to “make it bigger” than just

what students are doing in the classroom.

It is important to Ms. B that students know that topics within her

curriculum are not just something she made up, but “that other artists who

actually make a living making art as their life” have done, or are doing similar

things. It is also important to her that when students are viewing mass advertising

or observing other art forms in the public venue, that students realize

...those people out there that do this for real life have used some of these

same principles or these same things that we’re learning here in class.

Because, I think it’s one thing if you just teach them, ‘Today we’re going

to learn about repetition and lines.’ But then if you show them examples

from the real world, that in buildings you see this, and in interior design

you see this, in advertising you see this, it makes it a little bit larger for

them, that it’s not just something that they’re doing in class that has no

relation at all to what’s going on outside the classroom walls.

Ms. B’s teaching style has also been greatly influenced by the 21 credit

hours she spent working toward a Master’s Degree in Bilingual Multicultural

Education. She believes that she is a more effective teacher as a result of having

taken those classes, because she learned how to better reach students, regardless

of their past experiences as learners. She explains that the tactics used to engage

students who are not fluent in English are effective tactics for connecting with any

and all students. Some of these approaches involve repetition, combining new

32

vocabulary with visual images or demonstrations, and engaging students

kinesthetically.

Ms. B admits that the students who are usually the most challenging to

motivate are many of those who enroll in her Art I class. A lot of of these

students are taking the class simply because they need a Fine Arts credit in order

to graduate, and they can vary in age from freshmen to seniors. Ms. B shares that

some of these students naturally turn out to be “wonderful artists and love it and

will go on to complete the program,” while others will require a great deal of

specialized attention in order to keep them on track.

Ms. B shared several ways in which she works to scaffold her curriculum

for the benefit of all students. She tries to design all of her lessons so that

someone with no experience can be successful, so that “they can follow the steps

and come up with something that they can be proud of, that they can handle that

isn’t too overwhelming.” She also makes sure to “leave that door open, so that

students that do have that really creative edge and do want to take it further, that

it’s open enough that they can take it and go in their own direction with it, and

make it more than what is just the minimum requirements of the assignment.” It

was evident in her teaching that she did, indeed, encourage stronger art students to

push their projects further. As she circulated the room, she seemed to give equal

attention to struggling students as she did to successful ones, and worked to push

both. “I like how you’re ____, but I’d like to see more _____,” seemed to be one

of her common response structures as she moved from student to student. She

consistently provided a great deal of praise and positive encouragement, and her

33

students seemed to trust her judgement. They were comfortable approaching her

with questions and advice.

In order to exemplify her style of breaking down lessons into manageable

chunks for beginning-level students, Ms. B described how she would structure a

colored pencil unit. She explained that she would begin with one or two lower-

level assignments designed to teach them the basics of using colored pencils. She

described a worksheet she has that shows students how to layer colors. “And

even the kids that are more advanced enjoy doing that,” she added. “It’s good

review for them.” She would then give them an image to color in, using either

warm or cool colors, as practice before having them launch into a higher level

learning activity. “So by breaking it up into those small chunks, it allows them to

have that chance to kind of practice and weed out how to work things out and how

to use the medium,” she explained.

During my final visit, Ms. B’s class was in the midst of working on a still

life assignment. Ms. B had arranged an elaborate collection of objects in the

center of her classroom. Her students were expected to select a portion of the still

life to recreate using the medium of their choice. They were able to select from

any of the mediums they had been introduced to over the course of the semester.

In order to ease the potential for frustration, she gave her students the option to

photograph their chosen section of the still life. They would then enlarge the

photograph on the computer and print it out. By laying a plastic transparency

sheet over the photograph, they were able to trace the basic shapes within their

composition, and then transfer the outlines onto the surface of their artwork. This

34

virtually eliminated the possibility for students to struggle with size ratio

accuracy. Most of her students did elect to use this method.

In comparison to the other participating teachers, Ms. B seemed a bit more

prone to engaging with her students as an elementary teacher might. Her behavior

management style was carefully constructed. “I like the way group one is quiet,”

she would announce, hoping to cue other groups in to her expectations. She did a

great deal of checking for understanding during her lectures, and made an evident

effort to simplify concepts as much as possible. At each ten minute interval

during my observations, whether during lecture or studio time, there were never

more than two or three students who were visibly off task. Talking was allowed

during studio time, as long as students were visibly working.

Ms. B also made sure to announce the amount of time students had left

before they had to clean up several times during each period. She was very

specific: “Five minute warning. If you’re almost done, you can finish tomorrow.

If you have more than ten minutes of work left, you should take your carving tool

home tonight.” She was consistently very clear when communicating her

expectations to students, and they seemed to know precisely what they needed to

do in order to be successful.

The final exam for Ms. B’s Art I class is a multiple choice assessment

with 50 questions. The exact questions to be included on the final exam are

given, one per day, via daily bell work. The question of the day would be

projected onto the wall for students to respond to, and Ms. B would confirm the

correct answer before moving on to the day’s lesson. In doing so, she

35

purposefully made it easy for any student who was willing to take quick daily

notes to have the entire contents of the final exam in their hands when it came

time to study.

Ms. B did not demonstrate rigidity with the expectations she required of

her students. When she noticed that two students were signing each others’

yearbooks after she had asked the class not to open them, she simply asked that

they be put away after the students were done with their signatures. When a

student asked her which medium would be “fastest” for their final project, she

answered the question honestly and directly, without any show of disappointment

in their desire to choose a medium based solely on the speed at which they could

complete the project with it. In general, she seemed not to openly bestow

judgments upon her students, and they, in turn, seemed very honest and open with

her. While she praised students who experimented beyond her set requirements

(such as one student who attempted to combine sharpie, watercolor, and colored

pencils for her final project), she did not express disapproval of those who

selected the simplest routes to complete their work.

Despite her relatively relaxed attitude regarding whether her own students

develop into accomplished artists themselves, Ms. B feels quite invested in

developing their appreciation of the societal value of art. She makes an effort to

consistently be showing them how art is used in their favorite movies, or even in

students’ own clothing. She mentioned a recent experience she had when a

student entered her classroom wearing a t-shirt with Magritte’s Son of Man

painting on the front, except that instead of an apple hovering in front of the

36

figure’s face, there was a smiley face. “Do you realize that shirt is inspired from

a famous piece of artwork?” she asked her student.

Citing another recent experience, Ms. B told me about a figure drawing

lesson she had given. She had projected images of artwork by Peter Max onto the

wall as she discussed contemporary figurative art with her students. The next

night, it was Steven Tyler’s birthday on the popular television show, American

Idol. For his birthday, Steven Tyler was publically presented with a portrait of

himself, done by none other than the artist Peter Max. Ms. B had been thrilled to

return to work the next day to find out which of her students had seen the show

and recognized the work of the artist they had discussed in class. “I try to teach

them about artists that aren’t just dead artists that were from a long time ago,” Ms.

B explained. She feels that students are more open to connecting with current and

updated material, rather than curriculum discussing artists and movements from

long before their birth.

When I asked her how she works to inspire students who appear to be

uninterested in her curriculum, Ms. B had several strategies to share. “Let them

choose their own images,” she advised. She feels that students who feel they have

the power to connect their own personal interests to her assignments tend to

become more invested in them. At the beginning of the semester, Ms. B gives her

students a brief overview of the assignments that they will be doing over the

course of their time with her. She then takes them to the computer lab, where

they are given the opportunity to surf the internet and print out several images of

37

their own chosen subject matter. They are then allowed to store these images in

her classroom for use on their projects throughout the semester.

Akin to the practices of Mr. A, Ms. B recommends that teachers make an

effort to give personalized attention to students who appear not to be interested in

the art curriculum. She will approach an unproductive student and ask, “Is it that

you don’t know how to do this, or that you don’t want to do this?” She explained

that students are usually pretty honest in their responses, and that their answers

can lead to the best route toward getting them back on track. “Alright,” she might

say to a student who is overwhelmed by the requirements of a project, “We have

15 minutes left of class. What do you think you can get done in the next 15

minutes? How about you do this part?” She would then continue to break down

the steps of an assignment in order to make it seem more approachable for that

student. “So keep on them,” she suggested. “Sometimes, even at the high school

level, you have to be a little bit of a mom. Just keep roaming the room and come

back. Make them accountable, keep checking up on them.” Ms. B did exactly

that throughout the course of my observations, and the only time I witnessed her

sitting down was during our interview session.

I asked Ms. B how she is able to tell that her motivational tactics are

successful. She responded by telling me that evidence can be found in each final

product that her students create. “So if they have successfully completed the

project,” she went on, “they have thought of something really unique and original,

then I definitely know that they’ve been successful. Also, for the students that

maybe struggle more, that they’ve turned in more, or that they seem more excited

38

about something then maybe they did at the beginning of the semester.” Ms. B

explained that she knows her motivational tactics have been successful when she

sees progress and improvement in the quality of student work samples.

As did Mr. A, Ms. B described a series of rubrics that she uses to

determine student grades. Each rubric has five criteria that are specifically

designed for each different project that students complete throughout the

semester. Also parallel to the practices of Mr. A, Ms. B requires students to

complete a self assessment prior to her own assessment of their work. In general,

the rubrics tend to contain questions along the lines of the following topics:

unique and original design, composition, how well the artwork fit the project

criteria or the medium that was being used, and overall technique, as well as a few

reflection questions.

When I asked Ms. A why she felt it was important to encourage

motivation in her classroom, the intensity in her voice heightened. She had much

to say regarding this topic:

Everyone that comes through here is going to be a member of society, and

I just want them to recognize that art is a big part of our society. And I

think that it goes back to art advocacy, too, that if they realize how much

you see all of these things that we’re learning in a basic art class in our

society, that maybe they’ll become a little bit more appreciative of the arts.

And that they will see the benefit of the arts, and that art isn’t just

something that people do for fun and that isn’t necessary, that learning

how to think critically and see things in a different kind of way, how much

39

it really is out there. And maybe they’ll become more supportive of it, and

maybe they’ll just have an appreciation of it when they’re adults, and that

they’ll support the local art programming. Especially the art in schools,

with the standards-based education and with everything being cut and

slashed. We just heard the legislature is cutting millions of dollars from

our funding next year. I think in Peoria, we’re losing four million dollars.

Ms. B went on to discuss the issue of art not being on the Arizona Instrument to

Measure Standards (AIMS) statewide assessment, which every high school

student now must pass in order to receive a regular diploma. She fears, as do

many, that art programs will continue to be cut further and further, as funding is

redirected to increase support to the academic areas that are assessed by the AIMS

test.

Whether art is to be included on the AIMS test is a current topic of interest

amongst Arizona art educators. Many Arizona school districts have begun to

make cuts to art programs, reducing staff and splitting art teachers between two

and three schools, and shortening and/or reducing frequency of art classes. Some

elementary schools have even removed their art programs completely. Since

there are still art standards in the required curriculum, administrators expect

classroom teachers with little or no experience in art to include art instruction in

their teaching. Ms. B described her knowledge of the situation: “They basically

have a folder with the little lesson in it where you can teach the primary colors

and secondary colors and those kinds of things. But it’s not getting taught the

same way that an art teacher would teach it, and it’s watering down the

40

curriculum.” Ms. B admits that although she dislikes the notion of standardized

testing in general, she wouldn’t mind seeing art added to the AIMS test. She feels

that those in decision-making positions rely on test scores and data to drive

funding decisions, and that adding art to the AIMS test would serve to protect art

programming.

Ms. B’s school district is planning to begin tying teacher compensation

directly to test scores. She wonders how this will affect art teachers, and fears

that art teachers may be expected to teach aspects of other curriculum in their

classes. While she acknowledges that art can naturally reach across the

disciplines, she doesn’t feel it would be fair to require this of art teachers. “I

don’t think it should be dictated that I’m teaching someone else’s standards. I

have my own standards. There are art standards,” she insisted. “I think it

wouldn’t be a bad idea to have it on the test, for the long run.” However, Ms. B

does not feel that adding an art component to the AIMS test would result in an

increase in the motivation of her students, and she sees the situation as an

unfortunate dilemma.

Ms. B feels that the most impactful thing that she can do, aside from

having her own public art shows and advocating for the arts independently, is

advocating for the arts within her own classroom. She tries to encourage her

students to appreciate the arts on a higher level than they would have, had they

never enrolled in her introductory art class. Ms. B feels that if she is not

successful at motivating them and helping them to see the importance of the arts,

41

that this would be a greater failure than having her students not pass, or her

program not “look good.” She would consider this to be “the ultimate failure.”

In addition to understanding the importance of art and becoming future

supporters of art programs, Ms. B describes her desire for her students to develop

the capacity to “see the bigger picture” regarding how art is deeply infused into

their daily lives. “My final goal would be just that when they finish with the art

class, even if they never paint on their own, even if they never draw, that maybe

when they’re done with school and they’re walking down the street, they’re going

to recognize some of these things that they’ve learned in my class that are out

there in the world.” She described recently watching famous designer Candis

Olson on TV, and hearing her recommend the use of rhythm, which is one of the

basic principles of design. She also mentioned other occasions of noticing artistic

principles applied in public spaces, such as symmetrically designed billboards.

Ms. B wishes for her students to be aware of the extensive applications of these

principles that they witness in their daily lives.

42

Figure 5. Mosaic installation previously created by advanced students, displayed

on an outside wall of the school building (2011).

43

Figure 6. Classroom layout, Teacher B (2011).

44

Teacher C

“Mr. C” teaches Jewelry courses at a high school in Mesa, Arizona. He

has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in Painting and Drawing,

and earned his teaching certification following his graduation from that program.

He has been teaching art for 16 years. Mr. C describes the high school where he

works as having “a large mix of minorities.” He estimates that approximately 80

percent are Hispanic, and 10 percent are African American. About five percent

are Native American, and the remaining five percent is made up mostly of

European American and Asian American students. This high school where Mr. C

teaches is located in a lower income level area. His teaching style reflects aspects

of both facilitation and delegation, and he relies on cooperative grouping.

The most recent workshop Mr. C has participated in is Advancement Via

Individual Determination (AVID). AVID is a program designed to support

students who indicate that they are first-generation college-bound, who come

from lower-income families. About 300 students who attend the high school

where Mr. C teaches are in the AVID program. Mr. C’s Jewelry class is cited as a

participating AVID course, so he has been attending related classes and trainings.

He has also been taking International Baccalaureate (IB) training classes. The

aim of this program is to promote global perspectives of art and learning, in order

to produce world-wide learners.

Mr. C cites Fred Jones’ Positive Discipline theory as being most

influential in his teaching. He attended a Fred Jones seminar at the beginning of

45

his teaching career, and has continued to refer back to the book he received for the

past 16 years. Fred Jones is an educational theorist who advocates for highly-

structured, front-loaded classroom management systems. This influence did seem

evident in Mr. C’s teaching style.

In order to motivate his students, Mr. C tries, “to set up their projects so

that they have some sort of personal buy into it.” All of the lessons he teaches are

process-based, so he must first teach them processes such as soldering, metal

cutting, and wax casting. However, the projects students work on are each

personally designed by them. Mr. C explained that he sees many students put

great care into their work when they have a personally-derived vision.

All of Mr. C’s classes are mixed-level, meaning he has beginning,

intermediate, and advanced students during each period. He believes that this can

work as a motivating factor. While beginning-level students have their own

prescribed series of projects, the more advanced students are simultaneously

working on higher-level projects. Many of these projects have the potential to

impress beginning-level students, and can pique their interest in continuing

through the program.

Mr. C has a highly energetic personality, and is constantly moving around

the classroom. He tries to keep demonstrations as entertaining as possible, by

telling jokes and making light-hearted comments about safety to, “kind of lighten

things up a little bit.” As I observed him giving a demonstration to several

students who were waiting to use the kiln, Mr. C waved his hands around, making

46

faces and singing, “la, la, la” as he worked. His energy level did not visibly

decrease at any point during my observations.

Mr. C had a distinct way of showing his expectations to students. He

would act as though he expected compliance in a friendly way, never seeming to

show a stern side. Shortly following the beginning of a class period, every

student seemed to be on task except for one, who was lying with her head on her

backpack. Mr. C acted as if he assumed she wasn’t working because she didn’t

know what to do, and he politely explained the directions to her. “So now you

know what to do, and you can go ahead and start working!” he declared in a

joyful tone. The student immediately retrieved her sketchbook and began

working on a project design. This same student was later able to answer my

casual questions about the process she was embarking on, using appropriate

technical terms.

When I asked him what art teachers can do to encourage students’

appreciation of the societal value of fine art, Mr. C mentioned that he offers extra

credit to students who attend community art exhibitions. He added that he teaches

about important periods throughout the history of art, which he often utilizes

PowerPoint presentations to address. Mr. C believes it is important to discuss the

monetary values of different metals, as well as the monetary increase in value that

occurs once the metal is shaped into a product.

Mr. C also believes that it is impactful to have students participate in art

shows themselves. He tries to enter students in two to three shows per year.

Usually, there is a school-wide show, a district-wide show, and a state-wide show

47

(at the Arizona State Fair). He has also entered his students in national shows in

the past, but noted that student shows don’t always carry a jewelry component.

Shipping issues have also negatively impacted his decision to enter three-

dimensional artwork in national shows.

As do both of the previous teachers I interviewed, Mr. C resorts to

interviewing students who seem unmotivated. He might ask a particular student

what they enjoy doing in their spare time, and then encourage them to incorporate

their interests into their projects. “So I walk around the room, and if anyone

seems particularly stuck, I talk to them specifically and ask them what they need

help with, or ask them about their interests, or their life, or what they want to do,

or things like that.” From time to time, Mr. C will come across students who are

putting off a project because they are afraid to work with torches. He has allowed

those students to write reports in lieu of assignments that would require them to

work with fire. Mr. C calls this “adapting the curriculum,” a plan which he

describes as being flexible to meet student needs.

Another issue that can be problematic in Mr. C’s classroom is the

requirement for students to pay a 30 dollar material fee. Many students change

their schedule and drop his Jewelry class because they can’t pay the fee, or they

may attempt to sit in the class and not do anything. When asked about a

scholarship program, Mr. C explained that the school has the capability of

carrying between 10 and 20 students on art fee scholarships per year. This is not

an adequate arrangement, considering the rate of income shortage within the

school boundaries. Mr. C notes that students who cannot pay the fee will

48

occasionally “act out and become disruptive,” or sometimes just not show up to

class at all. During the first month of school, Mr. C spends a lot of time lecturing

and acquainting students with tools and safety procedures. This provides some

students the opportunity to save up for the class fee, if they are able to. Other

students may have to resort to writing reports to earn their grades in his class, if

they do not opt to transfer out.

The high school where Mr. C works has developed a plan of action to

reach students who are not successful at school. Every two weeks, teachers check

student grades, and every three to four weeks, they print out progress reports.

Teachers then meet to discuss students who are failing or near failing, and try to

determine the causation and develop a plan of action for addressing each student’s

case. Teachers use a computer program called Genesis to access personal

information about their students, and will sometimes call parents to find out

whether there is anything going on at home that the school can help out with.

Sometimes teachers will assign student mentors to those who are struggling. This

is particularly effective with move-in students, of which there are many. Mr. C

describes the school population as being transient, and changing fairly frequently.

This can be a challenge, when students move in who haven’t received the

background knowledge that Mr. C covered during the first few weeks of the

course. Peer mentors can assist new students in class, as well as provide them

with someone they may feel they can connect to in their new and unfamiliar

environment.

49

When I asked Mr. C about his grading practices, he began at the very

beginning. “We talk about, at the beginning of the semester, what they think

jewelry is. So we have them define what jewelry is all about, what makes a good

piece of jewelry, what makes it valuable, why would they buy it? And so, when

we talk about the characteristics of that, we talk about not having scratches, and

having things be measured correctly, and things fitting correctly and being

comfortable.” He uses the criteria they come up with during this guided

discussion to create a checklist of requirements for their future projects. This

way, students may feel more “buy-in” to the reasoning behind his grading

process.

Mr. C breaks down student grades for each unit into three parts, each of

equal value. The first component is a requirement for students to create three

preliminary sketches of potential project ideas. The second is the project itself,

which is graded using the aforementioned checklist. The third is a self-

evaluation. As did the previous two teachers, Mr. C requires students to rate

themselves according to a checklist, and answer some reflection questions about

each project they complete.

I asked Mr. C what consequences might arise as a result of having

unmotivated students in his classroom. “They drag everybody else down,” he told

me. “You can have a nice little class running nice and smoothly, and if you get a

couple of kids that decide they don’t want to do anything, other kids don’t really

care why they’re not doing anything. They see them not doing anything, and I

don’t know why they don’t associate the fact that that person’s getting an F and

50

they’re getting an A or a B, but they jump to the conclusion that, ‘Hey, if he

doesn’t have to do anything, why am I doing anything?’ And so it’s kind of

cancerous, and it starts to spread, and the people that are closest to them stop

working first. And then it goes around, it starts spreading and spreading and

spreading.” In order to prevent this phenomenon, Mr. C is constantly working to

ensure that every student is active and productive. In addition to its effect on

other students, having unmotivated students in a Jewelry classroom can also

become a hazardous situation. “They tend to play with stuff when they’re not

working on things, and a lot of this equipment is dangerous,” he explained,

gesturing to the torches.

Another worry of Mr. C’s is that if his students know he is allowing them

to sit unproductively in his classroom, he is afraid they may believe he doesn’t

care. “So I try to show definite interest in their success in the class, a definite

interest in making them successful,” he informed me. When making his way

through the room, Mr. C will ask students if they need help with anything, offer

advice, and “give them specifics of what they’re missing so they know where they

need to put their focus.” During my observations, he also made many friendly

teasing remarks, and made a point of telling several different students, “That’s

why you’re my favorite.” He feels it is important for him to get to know each

student personally, which he admits can be a challenge. “I’d prefer if they all

wore a nametag, but they don’t, so just getting to know them, just what they do on

the side...you know, if they’re in sports or something like that, and then talking to

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them about that.” Mr. C certainly puts substantial effort into cultivating a positive

and encouraging atmosphere in his classroom.

Mr. C hopes that his influences will reach beyond his students’

experiences within his classroom. His desire is to “teach them about being

intrinsically motivated about everything.” He feels this can be done by starting to

get students thinking about greater meanings, rather than simply focusing on

grades. He tells students, “You’re doing this to become better at making jewelry.

We are going to make you a professional jeweler at the end of this

semester...that’s the plan. We’re going to have you making jewelry that’s

sellable, that’s giftable, that’s wearable, that you like. And so you’re not doing it

for me. None of this stuff is for me. It’s for making you a better person and

being better at what you do.” Instead of thinking they need to turn in a particular

project because it’s due for a grade, he wants them to think, “I want to make this

ring, and I need to make it really nice because it’s for my mom and it has to be

perfect.” He hopes that once they develop this attitude, that it will carry over into

other parts of their lives, and “that they start recognizing that they have to do

things for themselves. That they don’t have to get a reward, that they don’t have

to get a thing from somebody else to say, ‘Do this.’ Do this for yourself. Maybe

it’s just because you need to do it for somebody you care about.”

Mr. C has walked by other classrooms and seen students sleeping on their

desks, but this is never something he would allow in his classroom. “The most

important thing is to keep them working all the time,” he stressed. “I need to see

them progressing towards an end, doing something all the time.” Like Ms. B, he

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does his best to break project requirements down into small steps to make the end

goal seem more achievable to students who seem overwhelmed.

Mr. C recognizes that the technical terminology and specialized tools used

in his class are new to most of his students. “They’re used to paintbrushes and

pencils and things like that,” he explained. “They walk in and there’s a bunch of

power tools, a bunch of files, and a bunch of machinery.” Mr. C is constantly

reminding students that they’re capable of using every tool in the classroom

successfully. “I tell them that they’re the best of the best all of the time,” he

shared confidently. He tries to boost their confidence, while keeping their natural

cautiousness intact. Sometimes, that means standing next to them and helping

them through the processes, which he did often during my observations.

At the end of his class periods, Mr. C walks around the room, tapping

students on the shoulders and assigning each table to a section of the classroom

that they will be responsible for cleaning up. His movements and mannerisms are

purposefully jolly and comical as he takes care of the business of managing his

classroom. He seems to do it with success, as I rarely caught sight of a visibly

unproductive student during the course of my observations.

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Figure 7. Classroom layout, Teacher C.

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Chapter 5

CONCLUSIONS

Although they differ substantially in personality, student population, and

art curriculum, the teachers who participated in this study share many

commonalities regarding the methods they use to successfully motivate and

engage students in their beginning level art courses. They unanimously view this

issue to be of great importance, both for its immediate benefits within their

classrooms, as well as the long-term societal value of encouraging others to see

the importance of art and art programs within communities. After analyzing the

results of this study, the discovery I found to be most surprising was that: Despite

any personal or situational differences, these master teachers adhere to several

similar beliefs and practices within their classrooms in order to accomplish these

objectives.

One common practice is frequent cycling throughout the classroom and

conducting informal interviews with students who seem to be encountering

periods of non-productivity. All of the participating teachers constantly work

their way through the room, stopping often to offer individual students feedback

and support. When they sense a lack of motivation, these teachers will probe

further, hoping to pinpoint underlying causes. They have found that student

responses can reveal which strategies teachers should utilize in order to remedy

individual situations, which can range from students facing a lack of ideas for

subject matter, to feeling fear about using the tools required for a particular

project, or even unrelated issues such as lack of sleep. All of the participating

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teachers consider themselves to be flexible and accommodating in order to meet

differing student needs. They all showed interest in creating positive learning and

art-making experiences for each of their students, and admitted that there are

often differing paths to accomplishing this goal. This practice of differentiation in

order to meet varying student needs is consistent with the findings of Dorethy et

al. (1979), who studied the practice of matching teaching styles with different

qualities of human performance. Additionally, as these teachers work to create

personal connections with their students, they are putting into practice Gardner’s

(2006) theory that the development of interpersonal relationships plays a critical

role in motivating students to learn.

There were also several consistencies across the grading systems

implemented by each participating teacher. All of the teachers provided detailed

rubrics which delineated requirements for each project, and shared these rubrics

with students prior to having them embark on each assignment. The teachers

intend for each student to fully understand what is to be expected of them before

they ever begin working. Additionally, all three teachers ask their students to

complete self-evaluations after finishing each project. In doing so, they provide

their students with an opportunity to represent themselves as artists, and share a

part in their own assessment process.

All of the participating teachers expressed a belief that students are more

successful when expectations are clear and they understand exactly how to

accomplish each step toward meeting requirements. These teachers share a

common practice of breaking down large projects and assignments into a series of

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smaller, more easily-achievable tasks. The teachers agree that there is always a

need to “string some students along” by continuing to prompt their participation

and help them transition from one stage of each project to the next. They

understand that to many beginning-level students, the tasks at hand may appear

complicated and overwhelming. The method of breaking projects down into a

series of more approachable tasks is reminiscent of the findings of Shernoff et al.

(2003), who stated that increased student engagement occurs when the perceived

challenge of tasks and student skills are high in balance and they feel that the

learning environment is under their control.

All of the high school art programs in which these teachers work combine

beginning-, intermediate-, and advanced-level students within each class period.

The participating teachers consider this to be yet another way to inspire

beginning-level students to develop high aspirations. The situation provides an

environment of intrigue for many less-experienced art students, as they have the

opportunity to witness the possibilities that may come with their further

development. Beginning-level students work alongside advanced students whose

skills have progressed, and who often are given more power to dictate the course

of their own projects. On occasion, these participating teachers offer special art-

making experiences to advanced students, such as opportunities to work on public

installations. These advanced students may be utilizing different tools and

materials to accomplish tasks which can impress beginning-level students. This

piqued curiosity can inspire them to increase their efforts, and possibly even

continue through the program to discover their own artistic potential.

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As is evidenced by this study, these participating master teachers do not

wish to separate artists from non-artists, and focus their energies solely on

students who may one day become professionals in the field. They work

tirelessly to make their classes a valuable experience for each student they

encounter. Their practices coincide with the theories of Scott, who affirmed that,

“The public education system need not be expected to teach students to be artists.

Educators can, however, create an atmosphere in which art is considered a valued

area of study, and in which knowledge and appreciation of art and personal

artistic expression are encouraged” (1988). In addition to improving the

atmosphere within their own classrooms on a day-to-day basis, these teachers

work to inspire generations of future voters and policy-makers who may one day

advocate for the welfare and vitality of art programs for decades to come.

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Deci, E. L., Vallerand, R. J., Pelletier, L. G., & Ryan, R. M. (1991). Motivation and education: The self-determination perspective. Educational Psychologist, 26(3 & 4), 325-346.

Dorethy, R., & Reeves, D. (1979). Mental functioning, perceptual differentiation, personality, and achievement among art and non-art majors. Studies in Art Education, 20(2), 52-63.

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Hetland, L., & Winner, E. (2004). Cognitive transfer from arts education to nonarts outcomes: Research evidence and policy implications. In E. Eisner & M. Day (Eds.), Research and policy in art education (pp. 135-161). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Pariser, D., & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Learning in the visual arts: Characteristics of gifted and talented individuals. In E. Eisner & M. Day (Eds.), Research and policy in art education (pp. 379-405). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Scott, L. (1988). A comparative study of personality, values, and background characteristics of artistically talented, academically talented, and average 11th and 12th grade students. Studies in Art Education, 29(3), 292-301.

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Shernoff, D. J., Csikszentmihalyi, M., Shneider, B., & Shernoff, E. S. (2003). Student engagement in high school classrooms from the perspective of flow theory. School Psychology Quarterly, 18(2), 158-176.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Erica Clark was born and raised in Arizona. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Special Education and a Master of Arts in Art Education, both from Arizona State University. Erica has been working as a public education teacher for seven years. She also draws and paints, and occasionally has her artwork displayed in public venues. During her free time, Erica enjoys traveling, hiking, gardening, and spending time with her two cats.